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Putin Meets With Alexis Tsipras of Greece, Raising Eyebrows in Europe

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Debt Talks Begin With Russia and Greece

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Wednesday to discuss ways to increase economic cooperation between the two countries.

SHOWS: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 8, 2015) (RUSSIAN POOL - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: “Between 2009 and 2013 the turnover between our countries had grown more then twice (PAUSES FOR TRANSLATION). But unfortunately last year it decreased by 40 percent at once. (PAUSES FOR TRANSLATION). That’s why of course I believe that your visit could not have come at a better time because we have to analyse what we both could do to restore the previous growth rate.” // (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK PRIME MINISTER, ALEXIS TSIPRAS, SAYING (ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL TRANSLATION): “The goal of my visit is for us together to try to give a new momentum to our relations (PAUSES FOR TRANSLATION) so that both nations would benefit from it (PAUSES FOR TRANSLATION) and in favor of stability and security in the region.”

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Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Wednesday to discuss ways to increase economic cooperation between the two countries.CreditCredit...Pool photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko

MOSCOW — With Russia and Greece at odds with Europe, this week’s visit from the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, “could not have come at a better time,” President Vladimir V. Putin said Wednesday.

Mr. Tsipras, who is in tough negotiations with other European leaders over international financial assistance that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy, arrived here Tuesday night. His visit has raised eyebrows across Europe because of a perception that he may be trying to gain leverage by cozying up to Mr. Putin.

Mr. Putin, for his part, is suspected of pursuing a divide-and-conquer strategy to prevent the European Union from reauthorizing economic sanctions next summer. Those were imposed after the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea and stiffened after the Russian Army invaded southeastern Ukraine in August.

At a joint news conference at the Kremlin, the two leaders said that their discussions focused on economic issues, including trade, tourism and energy issues. Mr. Putin said that Mr. Tsipras had not asked for direct financial assistance from Russia.

While Greek officials had said that Mr. Tsipras would not use the visit to appeal directly for financial assistance, the prime minister’s public criticism of Western sanctions against Russia as “a road to nowhere” has heightened concerns that the trip is evidence of emerging cracks in European unity over the Kremlin’s policies in Ukraine.

For Russia, the visit is a welcome departure from the mostly tense interactions between the Kremlin and the West over Ukraine, including mounting frustration at the lack of movement toward fulfilling the political components of a cease-fire agreement signed in February.

At the news conference, Mr. Tsipras reiterated his previous criticism of Western sanctions against Russia. “We have repeatedly declared our disagreement,” he said. “This is our point of view that we constantly express to our colleagues in the E.U. We don’t think that this is a fruitful decision. It’s practically an economic war.”

Such public criticism is particularly sensitive for European leaders because the sanctions against Russia automatically expire July 31, and a unanimous decision by the European Council is needed to extend them. So far, senior Western officials have generally said that there has not been sufficient progress in resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine to warrant a rollback in sanctions.

While the visit may prove to be strategically useful for Greece and Russia, the meeting with Mr. Putin yielded little in the way of concrete results.

For instance, there was no immediate announcement that Russia would grant an exception to the ban on European agricultural products that Greece has requested in hopes of resuming exports, particularly of soft fruits.

Instead, Mr. Putin and Mr. Tsipras looked on as their foreign ministers signed an agreement for a year of cultural exchange in 2016. Then, Mr. Putin and Mr. Tsipras signed a “joint action plan” for 2015-16 that called generally for increased cooperation in various spheres, including trade, tourism and energy.

In Greece and among the nation’s European partners, the meeting between Mr. Tsipras and Mr. Putin has been viewed as an effort by the new Greek leader to seek allies as the country runs out of cash amid a deadlock with creditors over a desperately needed bailout of 240 billion euros, or about $260 billion.

Greece is on the edge of financial collapse, and recently warned that it would have trouble funding government operations and repaying some of its lenders.

By strengthening ties with Moscow, analysts said Mr. Tsipras might be testing the waters to determine whether Russia would be an ally in the future, should Greece find itself backed into a corner.

But Russia has been grappling with its own financial difficulties brought about by a sharp decline in oil prices and by Western sanctions. In recent days, the ruble has recovered somewhat against the dollar, and the price of oil has also stabilized, although it is lower than Russia needs it to be to maintain its budget in coming years.

There are, however, steps that Russia could take to assist Greece, including a partial easing of the countersanctions.

Greece is also said to be seeking a discount on Russian natural gas, perhaps as part of a larger deal with Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy giant. That deal could include construction of a pipeline through Greece to help Russia end its reliance on Ukraine for transporting gas to customers in Europe.

Western diplomats have insisted that ultimately Greece would not stray far from its European partners, and indeed could not survive financially without their help.

Still, there are signs of alarm. Guy Verhofstadt, a member of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Belgium, posted his disapproval on Twitter: “The Greek Prime Minister should stop trying to play #Putin against the E.U. Putin cannot save #Greece, the E.U. can.”

David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Liz Alderman from Paris. Niki Kitsantonis contributed reporting from Athens.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Greek Premier, in Moscow, Has Sharp Words for E.U. Sanctions Against Russia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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